If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Blacks and charter schools

I find it interesting that over the past couple days, I found out Sean 'P Diddy' Combs is opening a charter school in East Harlem to help Black students AND Rashad Turner of BLM St Paul has stepped down from leadership of BLM, saying his support of charter schools is in conflict with BLM's mission to shut them down. It's an interesting topic.

BLM is funded by White, corporate-progressives, so BLM follow corporate-progressive talking points and thus, are against charter schools. These same corporate-progressives, despite their rhetoric, seem to really hate unions, as evidenced by their support of free trade deals, illegal immigration and the constant bashing of union members.

Now BLM finds itself in an odd position: They say teachers are racists and instruments of the white supremacist school system. BLM is demanding control over school curriculum and the authority to hire/fire teachers as they see fit. Hardly support of the teacher's union or the teachers, imo. They also hate the police and are actively trying to take down police unions. Then there's the firefighters, who they're attacking, also union members. So it's the corporate-progressive BLM branch that's trying to push this stuff, as well as supporting the Democratic Party obviously.

Meanwhile, 'P-Diddy' says that despite his activism to get Obama elected, Obama hasn't given back to the Black community & that things haven't gotten noticeably better. He said Obama has "short changed", the Black community. He's decided to go the Booker T. Washington route and create an environment where Blacks educate Blacks to ensure a quality education.

Similarly Rashad Turner is rejecting the corporate-progressive model, by both rejecting the Democratic Party (BLM St Paul are Green Party supporters & he's running for State Senator on the Green Party ticket) and now the corporate-progressive directive on charter schools. Turner has said he'd like to open a charter school and has made recent tweets such as "8 mil. black students enter another yr. of a 3rd rate education.", "There is simply no reason that our education laws should maintain the jobs of persistently ineffective teachers.", et al.

I just find it interesting that grass roots Blacks seem to support charter schools & options for Black students, while the corporate-progressives Blacks take their directives from White billionaires, who want a moratorium on charters & to limit the educational options Blacks have.

I find it interesting that over the past couple days, I found out Sean 'P Diddy' Combs is opening a charter school in East Harlem to help Black students AND Rashad Turner of BLM St Paul has stepped down from leadership of BLM, saying his support of charter schools is in conflict with BLM's mission to shut them down. It's an interesting topic.

BLM is funded by White, corporate-progressives, so BLM follow corporate-progressive talking points and thus, are against charter schools. These same corporate-progressives, despite their rhetoric, seem to really hate unions, as evidenced by their support of free trade deals, illegal immigration and the constant bashing of union members.

Now BLM finds itself in an odd position: They say teachers are racists and instruments of the white supremacist school system. BLM is demanding control over school curriculum and the authority to hire/fire teachers as they see fit. Hardly support of the teacher's union or the teachers, imo. They also hate the police and are actively trying to take down police unions. Then there's the firefighters, who they're attacking, also union members. So it's the corporate-progressive BLM branch that's trying to push this stuff, as well as supporting the Democratic Party obviously.

Meanwhile, 'P-Diddy' says that despite his activism to get Obama elected, Obama hasn't given back to the Black community & that things haven't gotten noticeably better. He said Obama has "short changed", the Black community. He's decided to go the Booker T. Washington route and create an environment where Blacks educate Blacks to ensure a quality education.

Similarly Rashad Turner is rejecting the corporate-progressive model, by both rejecting the Democratic Party (BLM St Paul are Green Party supporters & he's running for State Senator on the Green Party ticket) and now the corporate-progressive directive on charter schools. Turner has said he'd like to open a charter school and has made recent tweets such as "8 mil. black students enter another yr. of a 3rd rate education.", "There is simply no reason that our education laws should maintain the jobs of persistently ineffective teachers.", et al.

I just find it interesting that grass roots Blacks seem to support charter schools & options for Black students, while the corporate-progressives Blacks take their directives from White billionaires, who want a moratorium on charters & to limit the educational options Blacks have.

Erinn Rochelle says she beat herself up for months after her sons’ charter school unexpectedly shut down during its first year of operation.

“Not only did I put my kids there, I recommended that school to my friends,” said Rochelle, whose children entered the brand new StudentFirst Academy in Charlotte in 2013. “Four or five of them decided to enroll their children there too, and it just makes me feel really bad. My name is tarnished.”

In spring 2014 with about a month left in the school year, StudentFirst was in debt by more than $600,000 and shut its doors, giving only a week’s notice. Rochelle scrambled to get her children into a public magnet school operated by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district.

A few weeks later at the new school, her eldest son, CJ, a third-grader, failed the end-of-year reading test—and Rochelle fully realized that StudentFirst’s shortcomings were not just financial, but academic as well. “It became clear that CJ had learned virtually nothing. He fell behind in all subject areas. He went to summer school after that to begin catching up.”

StudentFirst was one of 10 charter schools in North Carolina that have closed since 2012, displacing more than 1,100 students, according to the state Office of Charter Schools. Four of them closed during their first year of operation. Most closed because of financial problems, but some also closed because of academic failings or improper governance—or all three.

The closing of a charter school is a highly disruptive event for students and their families, and costly for taxpayers as well. Charter schools that closed in their first year of operation spent altogether about $3.5 million in taxpayer funds with little to show for that investment.

There is a pattern to the failures. In nearly all the cases, red flags appeared in charter applications well before the schools even opened. And as problems mounted once the schools were up and running, the state was in no position to offer a lifeline, in part because the state’s oversight and support process is disjointed and understaffed.

Politics, of course, plays a part. Charter applications are reviewed and approved by the Charter School Advisory Board, composed of members appointed by the Republicans who now dominate state government.

Detroit schools have long been in decline academically and financially. But over the past five years, divisive politics and educational ideology and a scramble for money have combined to produced a public education fiasco that is perhaps unparalleled in the United States.

While the idea was to foster academic competition, the unchecked growth of charters has created a glut of schools competing for some of the nation’s poorest students, enticing them to enroll with cash bonuses, laptops, raffle tickets for iPads and bicycles. Leaders of charter and traditional schools alike say they are being cannibalized, fighting so hard over students and the limited public dollars that follow them that no one thrives.

Detroit now has a bigger share of students in charters than any American city except New Orleans, which turned almost all its schools into charters after Hurricane Katrina. But half the charters perform only as well, or worse than, Detroit’s traditional public schools.

“The point was to raise all schools,” said Scott Romney, a lawyer and board member of New Detroit, a civic group formed after the 1967 race riots here. “Instead, we’ve had a total and complete collapse of education in this city.”

Ohio Charter schools are getting failing grades, according to a report that was released late last month. The report comes from knowyourcharter.com, a website which allows Ohioans to keep track of how the state’s charter schools are performing.

Ohio received $71 million of the $157 million in federal funds awarded to eight states in September, 2015. After such a large portion of federal funds was designated to charter schools in Ohio that were either closed or never opened, an investigation started into how the federal government allots the money in the first place.

“As a result, federal regulators quickly reversed course,” the report said. “This sudden reversal… begs a closer examination of not only how the US Department of Education awards these Charter School Program (CSP) grants, but also how well the recipients of these grants have fared in Ohio relative to other federal grant programs.”

Out of 292 of the awarded CSPs, 108 barely existed, with 26 that never opened and another 82 closed. They were slated to receive $30 million in federal funds.

Performance grades for every charter school in Ohio are available on knowyourcharter. The website was created by The Ohio Charter School Accountability Project (OCSAP), an organization intending to “shed light on the reality of charter schools in Ohio – how are they performing, how are they paid for and how are they spending their public dollars.”

The Columbus School District has 75 schools listed. Of those, 56 are receiving a grade of D or F. There is one A.

The charter-school industry — consisting of schools that are funded partly by tax dollars but run independently — may be heading toward a bubble similar to that of the subprime-mortgage crisis, according to a study published by four education researchers.

The study, "Are charter schools the new subprime loans?" warns of several factors that appear to be edging the charter industry toward a bubble premeditated by the same factors that encouraged banks to start offering risky mortgage loans.

With charters, school authorizers play the role of the banks, as they have the power to decide whether to issue a new charter school. There are a multiple types of authorizers, including state education agencies and independent charter school boards. Most authorizers are local education agencies.

"Supporters of charter schools are using their popularity in black, urban communities to push for states to remove their charter cap restrictions and to allow multiple authorizers," one of the study's authors, Preston C. Green III, told The Washington Post, where we first read about the study. "At the same time, private investors are lobbying states to change their rules to encourage charter school growth. The result is what we describe as a policy 'bubble,' where the combination of multiple authorizers and a lack of oversight can end up creating an abundance of poor-performing schools in particular communities."

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — An unassuming building on the east side of St. Paul is home to one of the best high schools in the nation — Twin Cities Academy.

It was ranked 42 on the list of the nation’s top 500 schools by Newsweek Magazine.

The rankings are based on how well they prepared students for college. TCA received a college readiness score of 97.25

Members of TCA’s class of 2015 say they knew their school was special the first time they walked through the door. Small classes and rigorous academics are the norm for the 220 students.

But they credit their teachers for getting them engaged.

“They’re willing to meet you in the morning, they’ll meet you in the afternoon. Like, they’ll do it on their own time,” said a student named Gabby.

The diverse student body is learning and graduating, ranking TCA 17th in the nation for its graduation rate for low-income students.
Principal Betsy Lueth says she is proud there is no achievement gap at TCA.

“We have the highest group of students that either qualify for free and reduced lunch or are non-white students,” Lueth said. “So for me … my mission is to ensure that we have equity for all students.”

It’s TCA’s goal to make sure every child has what’s needed to get to the next level.

“The school is designed to offer, always have rigorous classes in all of the content area. But if the student needed an extra push, they’d have a parallel class,” she said. “So they may have two English classes for a couple of years or two math classes for a couple of years in order to catch them up.”

Students also get instruction in character development and leadership along with academics. Lueth says they are coming out well-rounded, motivated and confident.

“We do all kinds of things to surround these kids with a lot of love and school parenting,” she said.

TCA parents are required to volunteer 20 hours a year at the school. Lueth says it builds a team with parents, teachers and students to guarantee success.

The charter school is 15 years old, and also includes middle school students.

The St. Paul charter school Nova Classical Academy is the best high school in the state and 16th in the country, according to U.S. News and World Report’s annual rankings, released Tuesday.

The rankings identify high schools with higher-than-expected scores on state math and reading tests, with consideration given to student family income, and high participation and pass rates on Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate exams.

The online magazine examined 2013-14 data for almost 20,000 high schools, including 760 in Minnesota. Only 56 Minnesota high schools earned a ranking.

ST. PAUL, MN, May 14th, 2015. Great River School has been ranked by ​U.S. News and World Report ​as the number one high school in Minnesota; 341st in the nation.​ Rigorous academics for all students, key experience travel, service learning, and Montessori teaching methodology make Great River School a unique educational community ranked among the top 100 charter schools in the nation.

The media is welcome to interview the Head of School, Sam O’Brien, on Monday, May 18th, at 12:30 PM​. Students will also be available for interviews. Cameras are welcome. Great River School is located at 1326 Energy Park Drive, St. Paul,​MN, 55108, between Lexington and Snelling Avenues. To schedule an alternate time​, please contact Media Contact, Lucy Suits; see contact information below.

About Great River School:

Great River School (www.greatriverschool.org) is an urban, public Montessori charter school located on Energy Park Drive, in St. Paul, MN; central to the Como, Hamline*Midway, and Thomas*Dale neighborhoods. Students from these neighborhoods, Minneapolis, and other communities attend Great River. Montessori teaching methodology affirms the students’ rights to pursue their interests and passions while at the same time teaching a curriculum that supports the whole child. Social and emotional skills are as important in the curriculum as high*level math skills; it all comes together at Great River.

The charter-school industry — consisting of schools that are funded partly by tax dollars but run independently — may be heading toward a bubble similar to that of the subprime-mortgage crisis, according to a study published by four education researchers.

The study, "Are charter schools the new subprime loans?" warns of several factors that appear to be edging the charter industry toward a bubble premeditated by the same factors that encouraged banks to start offering risky mortgage loans.

With charters, school authorizers play the role of the banks, as they have the power to decide whether to issue a new charter school. There are a multiple types of authorizers, including state education agencies and independent charter school boards. Most authorizers are local education agencies.

"Supporters of charter schools are using their popularity in black, urban communities to push for states to remove their charter cap restrictions and to allow multiple authorizers," one of the study's authors, Preston C. Green III, told The Washington Post, where we first read about the study. "At the same time, private investors are lobbying states to change their rules to encourage charter school growth. The result is what we describe as a policy 'bubble,' where the combination of multiple authorizers and a lack of oversight can end up creating an abundance of poor-performing schools in particular communities."

Upper, charter schools have won best public school in the state three years running in Minnesota. Say what you like about the methodology of the rankings, but these schools are quite obviously doing something right. It's not just coincidence that every year now, these inner city, charter schools from St Paul are ranked #1 in the state.

I'm not saying all charter schools are better than all neighborhood schools. Obviously they're not all great. Conversely I can create a list much longer than yours of failing inner city neighborhood schools. What I do say is that for inner city families (charters are almost exclusively located in inner cities) they're often fantastic options. Especially with the federal mandates & PC politics that have erased behavioral & academic standards in the inner city neighborhood schools.

BLM is demanding that they set the curriculum for public, neighborhood schools and control hiring/firing of the teachers. With the kind of corporate-progressive money & media push they're getting, I have no doubt they will achieve their goal. You helped create this BLM monster and you will watch it eat your union brothers alive over the next 5-10 years.